


and my heart went zoom

by the_nvisiblegirl



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ava being a useless lesbian, Bickering, Co-workers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Mentions of a Pandemic, One Shot, Quarantine, Self-Isolation, So much bickering, and they were zoommates, social distancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23544745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_nvisiblegirl/pseuds/the_nvisiblegirl
Summary: Ava's office gets shut down because of a pandemic and she has to work from home for the next couple of weeks. What sounds great in theory quickly turns into her own personal hell when Sara, the new head backend developer she didn't have a chance to meet before, turns out to be cocky, infuriating, and—above all—absolutely gorgeous. The fact that a) they have a video call scheduled at 2PM every day and b) Ava is a giant lesbian doesn't help with the issue, especially when Sara is being entirely unprofessional. And funny. And is maybe (definitely) flirting with her.ORThe self-isolation/enemies to lovers/Zoom AU nobody asked for.
Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 37
Kudos: 321





	and my heart went zoom

**Author's Note:**

> Right, in my defense: I didn't want to write a COVID story (and I guess technically I didn't because this is just about an unspecified pandemic and even that is barely mentioned because the two ladies are too busy flirting with each other) but then I saw this tumblr post (https://ao3commentoftheday.tumblr.com/post/613719965388947456/of-course-i-love-and-they-were-quarantined-but) which seemed like the perfect Avalance AU and it all kind of spiraled out of control from there. I thought this was gonna be a short one shot. Well, almost two weeks and more than 11,000 words later... turns out it definitely isn't, but hey ho. 
> 
> Also: I don't know anything about web development. Please don't come for me.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy, punks!

Ava Sharpe cleared her throat, once again checking that both her microphone and camera were working and that whatever was in frame behind her was as plain and professional as possible for her upcoming conference call.

She still couldn’t quite believe that this was her life now. That there was a pandemic rampaging across the world. Usually, these things only happened on television—or in history books. The exponential growth in cases meant that, in order to prevent the further spread of the virus, their entire office—and most of the rest of the city as well—had been put on lockdown. However, the fact that she wasn’t allowed to leave her house didn’t mean that she didn’t have work to do, so she had quickly turned her dining room into a makeshift office, participating in regular Zoom meetings and trying to keep on top of her projects with half of the necessary paperwork not accessible. It wasn’t ideal—not by a long shot—but at least it gave her something to do.

Working from home had been an adjustment, to say the least. Yes, she had never been an overly social person, had never had many friends or was the type to spend time with her co-workers outside of work, so the fact that the lockdown meant she could not mingle with anyone did not really bother her. (On the contrary, she quite enjoyed not having to find excuses to get out of post-work drinks and weekend get-togethers.) She did like being in the office during the day, though. Not only was it easier to keep an eye on her team and make sure everything was running smoothly, she also enjoyed the quiet of the space where, on a good day, the only sound to be heard was the clicking of keyboards.

In the past few weeks, being at the office had been even more important because they had just successfully carried out their first merger, absorbing a smaller company that specialized in backend development into their corporate structure, which came with a lot of re-shuffling responsibilities, team-building exercises, and overtime. Luckily, the worst part was over and Ava, having met most of the new starters, had a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses as well as how they would fit into the existing team. The only person she hadn’t met yet was their head developer, a woman named Sara Lance. She’d apparently had some sort of business to take care of out of town—which, if you asked Ava, sounded more than fishy—and therefore hadn’t been able to join them at the office before they got shut down for the time being. Of course it was her who Ava had to work with most closely on a joint project—hence the scheduled daily video conferences for the foreseeable future.

Ava couldn’t deny that she was nervous. Meeting new people face-to-face under normal circumstances was already bad enough—Ava really wasn’t good at the whole small talk thing—but meeting someone via a screen in the middle of a global pandemic that had brought life as people knew it to a standstill was a whole other level of complicated. Plus, she’d heard stories about Sara Lance. About her being unconventional—to put it nicely—and never quite doing things by the book. (She’d also heard that the other woman was pretty much a coding genius, but she chose to ignore that for now.) Ava could already sense that working with this woman would not be easy.

Her instinct was immediately proven right when, by four minutes past two, there still was no sign of her new colleague. Ava huffed, annoyed. If there was one thing she hated above all else it was people being late; she had lost track of the number of interns she’d fired for that exact reason.

Before she could further ponder the pros and cons of putting in an official complaint about unprofessional conduct, a face popped up on her screen and Ava’s thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt. The other woman looked at the same time entirely different from what Ava had imagined her to and exactly fitting the stories she’d heard about her. She was wearing a grey leather jacket over a black top, her blond hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. What struck Ava most, however, were her eyes—ocean blue and sparkling with… something. She was absolutely gorgeous. Ava swallowed.

“Good afternoon, Miss Lance,” she greeted, trying to sound more authoritative and confident than she actually felt. While she wasn’t technically the other woman’s boss, she did have seniority at the company and, thus, wanted to establish her position as an authority figure right off the bat.

The blonde grimaced.

“Oh God, please call me Sara. ‘Miss Lance’ makes me feel like I’m back in high school, being chewed out by the principal.”

“Of course.” Ava paused for a moment before she added, “ _Sara_.”

“Hi.”

Sara’s smile was dimpled and no matter how hard she tried, Ava could not think of a different word to describe it than ‘cute.’ The traitorous lesbian part of her brain swooned.

“You’re late,” she reprimanded the blonde, hoping that falling into her usual all-work-no-play persona would help her regain her bearings.

“Only, like, a couple minutes. I had to register first.”

Ava huffed.

“Glad to know you’re prepared for our meeting.”

“Oh, come on. Is it really necessary to antagonize me like that? You’re not making a very good first impression,” she said, flashing her another dazzling smile.

“Is it really necessary to be late on your first day?” Ava shot back in a deadpan tone.

“This isn’t actually my first day, you know? Just my first day working with you.”

“Still not a reason to be late.”

“Right, anyway. Should we get started?” the other woman proposed then and, for once, Ava was only too happy to comply. The faster they got started, the faster they could end this meeting.

After giving Sara a quick briefing about the project—which was really just a recap of the information pack she should’ve read anyway—they actually made some decent progress, quickly assigning tasks and responsibilities and getting to work. It wasn’t until a little over an hour into their session that they eventually ran into the first serious data problem.

“How do you propose we solve the issue?” Ava asked, not really expecting Sara to be able to give her a solution. She was more than surprised when, instead of fumbling and finding excuses like Ava had expected her to, the blonde sent her a section of code before launching into a detailed explanation, talking her way through formulas and functions at a speed that made Ava slightly dizzy.

When she eventually finished, ending her monologue with an uncertain, “so, yeah,” Ava was rendered speechless by the sheer clout she had just witnessed. Sara wasn’t just good, she was _brilliant_ , using code in a way that was at the same time intuitive and innovative. But Ava would rather strip down to her underwear in the middle of the office than actually let the blonde know that. ****

So, instead of giving Sara the compliment she probably ( _definitely_ ) deserved, she immediately headed for more familiar territory—taking the offensive—leveling an accusatory, “But JavaScript isn’t supposed to be used like that” at the other woman.

True, JavaScript wasn’t exactly her speciality but she knew the language well enough to be acutely aware of the fact that what Sara had just pitched violated a minimum of three of its basic rules—at least as far as she could think of off the top of her head—so it wasn’t even like she was making things up just to spite the other woman. These were valid concerns that she, as a team leader, had to bring up.

Sara glared at her.

“Well, tough shit. It works, though,” she fired back, of course not someone to take an attack on her programming skills lying down.

“But we can’t—”

“Listen, Ava,” Sara interrupted her with a sigh. “Either we go with my code, it works, and we can move on, or we waste God knows how long trying to come up with something by the book. It’s up to you.”

“Well, I…” Ava trailed off, unsure how to react to Sara’s passionate—and, to be honest, pretty valid—outburst. Should she insist on finding a different solution, thus basically setting them back to square one just for the sake of being petty?

“I swear, if you say you’d rather do this by the book I’ll come to your house to strangle you right now,” the blonde laughed.

“We’re on lockdown, I’m afraid that’s not an option.”

Sara groaned before her face turned serious.

“Trust me on this, ok?” she urged, her voice suddenly softer, more earnest than before, and Ava had the disquieting feeling that this woman would be her undoing—in one way or another. Her whole life Ava had struggled with trusting other people, letting them in, and delegating responsibilities instead of trying to do everything on her own because at least then she knew it was being done correctly. So having this highly infuriating, unprofessional, _gorgeous_ woman asking her to trust her was more than Ava’s poor gay heart could take.

“And if it ends up blowing up in our faces—which it won’t, but in the unlikely case that it does—you can always be the one to say ‘I told you so,’ ok?”

Ava considered her options. She could keep antagonizing the blonde and, in the process, make both their lives harder than they had to be. Or she could get over herself and at least give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, Sara would not have gotten the job if she wasn’t at least semi-capable. Ava relented; the way the blonde had talked her through her code, the way she had essentially hacked an entire programming language in under five minutes to solve an issue that Ava had assumed would take them the better part of the next few days to work out meant that she actually was, the older woman hated to admit, _way_ more than that.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before releasing the air in one quick, forceful huff.

“Alright, fine.”

“Yes! I promise you won’t regret this,” Sara ensured her, beaming.

“Too late, I already do,” she replied, which only caused Sara to laugh, eyes sparkling with mirth.

After that initial little bump in the road, the rest of their meeting had actually gone fairly smoothly. Ava hated to admit it (even to herself) but Sara’s unconventional approach worked—and thus saved them several hours of tedious trial and error. All in all, their first day of working together had not been a complete disaster, but Ava still wasn’t entirely convinced that the other woman took any of this seriously.

“Good. I shall speak to you tomorrow. Make sure you’re on time,” Ava quipped, unable to keep herself from making one last dig at the blonde. Sara only rolled her eyes in response.

“Will do. Bye.”

“Bye,” Ava said, swiftly ending the video call.

She let out a breath she’d _definitely_ been aware of holding.

That hadn’t been too bad. Granted, Sara Lance was a cocky, brash piece of work who enjoyed throwing Ava for a loop, but she had some solid ideas and a unique way of approaching—and, more importantly, solving—problems. Maybe this was not going to be as much of a fiasco as Ava had originally thought it would be.

Over the next few days, Ava was surprised by just how well they actually worked together once they’d gotten in the swing of things. Yes, they still bickered constantly but other than that Sara was actually behaving like a semi-reasonable adult and not an overgrown child, which Ava appreciated. She had no patience for immaturity. Of course, there was the occasional joke on Sara’s part that bordered on inappropriate in a workplace setting but it was nothing Ava couldn’t handle. Until…

“I have a question,” Sara said out of nowhere one day. They’d each been writing a separate part of the framework source code in comfortable silence for the better part of the last hour, only occasionally speaking to ask a technical question or offer advice about something the other woman was stuck on.

“Go ahead,” Ava replied without looking up from her keyboard, expecting the blonde to seek more advice about the formula she had been more or less struggling with for the majority of the afternoon, which meant that she was in no way prepared for what came out of the blonde’s mouth next.

“Do you wear the same pantsuit every day or do you have a week’s worth of them in your closet?”

Ava’s eyes snapped up to glower at the other woman’s face on the screen in front of her, not entirely sure how to handle the fact that this was the first time they had touched on anything even remotely personal (at least as far as Ava was concerned). Yes, smart-mouth comments and sarcastic quips seemed to be Sara’s MO, but generally, up until now, they’d only been aimed at Ava’s tendency to code strictly by the book rather than any kind of commentary on her personal life choices.

The expression on Sara’s face was the closest thing Ava had ever seen to a text book description of self-satisfied smirk at having caught her off guard, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.

“Not everyone can have an infinite supply of leather jackets, Miss Lance,” she fired back because she’d never been good at taking a taunt lying down.

Instead of having the desired effect, though, the smirk on the other woman’s face only grew.

“Uhh, I’m being ‘Miss Lance’-ed. Did I hit a nerve?”

“You’re insufferable,” Ava scoffed, unable to suppress the eye roll this time.

“Other people would call it charming, you know.”

Tilting her head to the side, Sara winked at her, what Ava had come to recognize as the other woman’s signature smirk still firmly in place. In a slightly different situation this would’ve probably been Ava’s downfall—an attractive (and, she hated to admit, actually kind of charming) woman giving her a suggestive wink—but in this case her competitive streak was stronger. She wasn’t going to be bested by Sara Lance.

“Well, other people would be wrong,” the older woman deadpanned, daring Sara to deliver another witty comeback by raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Sara chuckled. “Touché,” she conceded before returning to her code, conversation apparently abandoned.

For a moment, Ava just stared at the blonde on the screen in front of her, wondering what on earth she had done to deserve having to work with someone this annoying on a daily basis; it must have been something truly terrible. She had just turned back to her own programming, trying to remember what she’d been doing before Sara had distracted her, when the other woman spoke once more.

“You are wearing the full pantsuit, though, right?”

Ava recognized feigned innocence when she heard it, and even though she had the very strong suspicion that she was better off not encouraging Sara in any way, shape, or form, she couldn’t help a quiet, “What?” from escaping her mouth, confused by the unexpected question. Of course the other woman was only too happy to clarify: “Instead of, you know, just the shirt and blazer with no pants?”

For a moment, Ava was too scandalized to say anything in reply, instead just doing her best impression of a fish out of water. She could not believe that the other woman had actually dared to ask such an unprofessional and, frankly, inappropriate question. Turned out her first impression of the blonde had been right all along and their companionable team working experience over the past couple of days was nothing but a fluke.

“Of course I’m wearing pants,” Ava hissed, internally berating herself for ever thinking that Sara could possibly have a single professional bone in her body. She was nothing but an overgrown child—irritating and entirely unsuitable for any and all matters involving tact, manners, or basic common sense—who the older woman couldn’t wait to get fired.

The challenge in Sara’s eyes was clear as day when she looked straight into the camera and demanded, “Prove it.”

“ _Excuse me_?”

“Prove. It,” she repeated, slower this time.

“Stop being ridiculous, we’ve got work to do.”

Ava couldn’t believe they were actually having this conversation right now and she had half a mind to send a strongly worded email to HR to find out how funny Sara thought she was after a disciplinary meeting with them.

The blonde only shrugged nonchalantly.

“I take it you’re not wearing pants, then. Kinky.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake” Ava finally snapped, before getting up from her chair and motioning to her lower body, clad in a pair of dark blue slacks that perfectly matched her blazer. “There: pants. Are you happy now?”

Sara’s grin was what Ava could only describe as shit-eating when she replied, “Very happy, thank you,” as Ava was sitting back down. “Good to know at least one of us is.”

“At least one of us is what?”

“Do the math, Ava.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Let’s just say my legs are starting to get cold,” Sara finally quipped, giving the other woman a wink.

Instantly, Ava could feel a blush rise on her cheeks at the image of lean, strong legs that invaded her mind at the suggestion that Sara was not wearing pants right now, and the urge to write that email to HR became stronger.

But she hadn’t actually seen if what the other woman was saying was true—not that she wanted to, she quickly chastised herself—so anything she could accuse her of was simply speculation. For all Ava knew, the other woman was only trying to screw with her head. (She hated to admit that, if that was the case, it was definitely working.)

She didn’t deign Sara’s comment with an actual verbal response, instead trying to return her focus to the task at hand: creating an efficient, functional code. It was a futile attempt at pretending that she wasn’t affected, however, since she was still very much on edge, unable to shake the feeling that the other woman was staring at her—but she didn’t dare to look up in case the blonde actually was. Ava wasn’t sure she could look her in the eye right now—virtually or otherwise. It wasn’t until she eventually heard the faint sound of fingers typing on a keyboard once more that she managed to get her mind back into a headspace where she was able to code something that actually made some semblance of sense.

After that, they ignored each other for much of the rest of the meeting. Ava assumed that Sara’s silence meant that she might at least have recognized that she’d crossed a line. Well, she could only hope the blonde was self-aware enough for such a conclusion. She was considering to just call it a day when Sara’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts. ****

“You know you don’t have to dress up for me, right?” The sincerity and complete lack of any kind of innuendo to her words momentarily threw Ava, her forehead creasing in confusion.

“Mhm?”

“I mean, if you’d rather wear, I don’t know, actual human clothes instead of that stiff polyblend pantsuit. My lips are sealed,” Sara promised, making a zipping motion in front of her mouth before pretending to toss away an imaginary key.

The teasing note was back in her voice but Ava could tell that the other woman was being sincere rather than out to throw her for a loop this time.

“I appreciate the discretion.”

“Any time,” she replied, giving her a small, genuine smile. There was a fluttery sensation somewhere in Ava’s stomach at the sight and she ended the video call before she could embarrass herself by saying something stupid in response. Staring at the now empty screen in front of her she could hear the blood rushing in her ears as she ordered herself to pull it together.

For the rest of the day she tried very hard not to think about Sara Lance and the cat-and-mouse game they seemed to be playing. Instead, she busied herself with cleaning her entire apartment until her hands were red and raw from scrubbing away at dirt that didn’t exist to begin with. It wasn’t until later, once she’d settled under the covers of her bed, that the other woman invaded her thoughts once again.

At this point, she could acknowledge that her daily collaboration with Sara was rousing certain feelings; feelings that Ava, however, was trying very, very hard to ignore. She didn’t even know why the other woman was affecting her so much—hell, she didn’t even _like_ the blonde—but she definitely knew that she couldn’t allow herself to develop a silly infatuation with a co-worker; especially not a co-worker as brash and irritating as Sara. Workplace dalliances were always a bad idea and she mentally chided herself for allowing her traitorous mind to even entertain the possibility when a) she’d only known the blonde for a week and b) didn’t know if Sara was queer to begin with. (Not that it mattered because this was never ever going to happen, anyway.)

Plus, most of the time, Ava didn’t know where she stood with the other woman and it was starting to stress her out. Obviously they were co-workers but were they friends? Enemies? Frenemies? Did Ava want them to be any of those things? (Or did she just want to have a lot of very dirty sex with the other because she was the most attractive person she had ever seen?) God, she needed to get a hobby to keep herself from overthinking like this. Maybe she should give crocheting a go.

The next day, Ava was sitting in front of her computer, waiting for her colleague to make an appearance, while self-consciously fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt. She couldn’t deny that she was nervous—something she hadn’t felt since that very first meeting over a week ago because, for some unfathomable reason and despite Sara’s incessant teasing (and the fact that she definitely, one hundred percent did not even like the blonde), she actually felt pretty comfortable in the other woman’s (albeit virtual) presence, which was a miracle in and of itself. Normally, people made her nervous. She wasn’t a people person, never had been, and even around the few friends she did have she always had her guard up, afraid to show them her true self. Not that she didn’t feel like she needed to have her guard up around Sara—she definitely did—but, somehow, instead of being scared that she would say the wrong thing, she felt herself enjoying their back and forth, the way Sara challenged her and kept her on her toes. Yes, the blonde was cocky, irritating, and entirely unpredictable—all things that, on paper, should scare Ava off—but she was also funny, bright, and honest. (Right, so maybe she did like the other woman—just a tiny, little bit—after all.)

Nevertheless, right then, she was already regretting the decision to take Sara up on her offer and forgo the suit today because she was sure it was going to prompt some sort of obnoxious comment from the other woman. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t comfortable in her suit—she _was_ —but she had also realized that it tended to function as a form of, for lack of a better word, armor she wore at the office in order to project an aura of professional aloofness—and that there was a reason she took it off when she came home. So blending office Ava and at-home Ava by wearing the suit while sat in her dining room, even if she was actually doing work, felt slightly off. Plus, she knew that Sara wouldn’t care; their working relationship already bordered on inappropriate anyway with all the teasing one-liners and suggestive questions that the other woman annoyed Ava with on a daily basis (and Ava had the strong suspicion that the suit had made that worse rather than better because Sara wasn’t the type of person to take any form of traditional, corporate authority seriously. Hell, the other woman had worn her actual pajamas and a dressing gown to their meeting the other day).

As predicted, the first thing out of Sara’s mouth when she joined the video call wasn’t a “hello”—or even a “you look nice”—but a sarcastic, “What, no blazer today? Are you sure you are feeling ok?”

Despite the heavy dose of sarcasm, however, Ava could tell by the expression on her face that the blonde was genuinely pleased that she’d actually done as suggested.

A noise by the door caught Ava’s attention then, and she briefly let her eyes drift to her right before focusing back on the woman in front of her.

“Haha, very funny. I thought I didn’t—and I quote—‘have to dress up for you.’”

Ava threw another quick look at the door, hoping the sounds coming from outside of it weren’t being picked up by her microphone. ****

“I love that a crisp white shirt is your idea of not dressing up. Weirdo,” Sara laughed, but Ava could hear that there was no actual malice behind the words. She looked from the screen to the door and then down to her lap, unable to suppress a coy smile.

“I might or might not be wearing jeans as well.”

Sara brought a hand to her chest.

“Be still my beating heart,” she proclaimed as Ava’s eyes wandered to the door again. Sara, of course, noticed. ****

“What’s going on, you seem distracted.”

Ava shook her head.

“Nothing. Let’s get st—”

“You’ve looked off to the side about 500 times in the last 2 minutes,” Sara interrupted before she seemed to suddenly have an epiphany. She gasped. “Oh my god, Ava Sharpe! Is someone in the room with you right now? Who is it? Your half-naked boyfriend trying to seduce you?”

“Please, I don’t do boyfriends,” Ava scoffed almost instinctively before her brain could catch up with her mouth. _Fuck_.

For the first time since Ava had met her, Sara was actually speechless, simply staring at her through the screen, an unreadable expression on her face. ****

Oh God, had she just come out to her co-worker? More specifically, her co-worker who she was maybe definitely kind of into—and who she had sworn nothing would ever happen with because that was a line she wasn’t willing to cross. Not that coming out meant that it made anything happening more likely. Plus, Sara would’ve probably found out sooner or later, anyway. It wasn’t like she was actively trying to keep her sexuality a secret around the office, so there were a handful of people—mainly fellow members of the rainbow brigade—that knew.

Maybe Sara hadn’t even caught the implicit meaning of her statement, Ava reasoned, trying to get her heart rate back down to a healthy level. Straight people were absolutely oblivious, after all. But then she couldn’t actually be sure Sara was straight, the traitorous little part of her brain that desperately wanted her to be gay whispered. Not when most things that came out of her mouth could, under different circumstances, definitely be classed as flirting.

“I—I mean,” Ava stuttered, weighing her options. “There is no one in the room with me. It’s just…”

Sara only looked at her expectantly. The blonde wasn’t going to let this go, was she?

“It’s my cat, ok? I can hear him meowing on the other side of the door,” Ava admitted eventually, which caused Sara to burst out into laughter.

“Of course you’re a cat person; that explains _so much_.”

Ava only glared at the other woman, not deigning her comment with an actual response.

“Come on, go get him! I want to meet the little bastard.”

With a sigh the older woman got up and made her way to the door, opening it slowly to reveal the only male specimen she actually cared about, who was looking up at her innocently. He meowed as she picked him up before carrying him over to her computer. Sara’s face lit up at the sight of the animal.

“What’s his name?”

“Uhmm…” Ava hesitated, considering if she should lie to Sara and come up with a less embarrassing name on the spot or if she should tell her the truth and, thereby, reveal just a little bit too much about herself. Before she could make a decision, realization seemed to dawn on the other woman. A giant grin appeared on her lips.

“It’s something really obnoxious, isn’t it?”

She pressed her eyes closed. Right, telling the truth it was, then.

“ _HisnameisCatBundy_ ,” Ava mumbled, praying that Sara would just let it slide.

But of course she didn’t.

“Come again?” the blonde said cantingly, grin still firmly in place.

Ava sighed.

“Cat Bundy.”

Sara’s brows furrowed, first in confusion and then in recognition.

“As in _Ted_ Bundy? The serial killer?”

Too embarrassed to speak, Ava only nodded in confirmation, lips pressed together tightly, which caused Sara to burst out into resounding laughter.

“You are such a _nerd_! I love it!”

“Shut up,” Ava grumbled, stroking the cat one last time before setting him back onto the ground.

“Don’t worry, I think it’s cute.”

Once the words registered in her brain, Ava could physically feel the blush rising on her cheeks. Had Sara just called her _cute_? Somehow, that was even worse than her usual quips and sarcastic remarks and the older woman honestly didn’t know how to handle it. Was Sara flirting with her? Or was she just teasing her? She wasn’t even sure which of those options she preferred. (Definitely the former.) Eventually, Ava decided it was for the best if she chose to ignore Sara’s comment and, instead, got back to work.

Ava checked her watch for what seemed like the five-hundredth time in the past few minutes. 2.07PM. And Sara still wasn’t online. Like every day for the past three weeks their meeting had been scheduled to start at 2PM sharp—although these days, more often than not, they actually began slightly before that—and Sara hadn’t been late a single time since their very first day of working together. So, at this point, Ava was worried rather than annoyed that the other woman hadn’t turned up yet.

She was just about to try and get her hands on the blonde’s phone number via Gary or Nate in order to check she was still alive when Sara’s face finally appeared on her screen and Ava was rendered entirely speechless by the sight in front of her. The blonde was wearing nothing but a black sports bra—as far as Ava could see, anyway—beads of sweat on both her forehead and chest. She had the nicest, most well-defined arms the older woman had seen in a long time (and what was visible of her abs on screen seemed similarly toned). Ava swallowed, still unable to speak.

“Sorry, I was working out and lost track of time,” Sara explained, grabbing a towel from somewhere to her left and wiping the sweat off her face.

“No—no worries.” God, it was embarrassing how shaky her voice sounded—as if she’d never seen an attractive woman before.

“Give me 5 minutes and I’ll just run and get changed real quick,” Sara offered, moving to get off her chair.

“No!”

The word burst out of Ava’s mouth before she could stop it and she winced as it made Sara stop dead in her tracks. “I—I mean, you don’t have to if you… just…”

Great explanation. What an absolute professional she was.

“Why, see something you like, Sharpe?” Sara teased, because she definitely knew exactly what kind of effect she was having on the other woman. She wiggled her eyebrows obnoxiously—and Ava vowed then and there that, even if threatened with physical harm, she would never admit that she was indeed seeing something she liked (very much).

“No, I just don’t want to waste any more time. We’re already running 9 minutes late.”

“Buzzkill,” Sara laughed as she gave Ava one more knowing, lingering look before turning to her code.

For the next twenty minutes, Ava was unable to focus on anything work-related no matter how hard she tried, both her thoughts and her eyes betraying her by drifting back to the half-naked woman in front of her again and again.

Seeing Sara post-workout definitely had a tantalizing effect on the older woman. It was probably because she’d been stuck in her apartment for almost four weeks now and was starting to get antsy from the lack of exercise, she reasoned. That had to be it. Ava had never been one for home workouts, preferring to have a designated space to let off steam. So it was definitely getting a reminder of the fact that she hadn’t worked out properly in way too long that had her so distracted and not the sight of the extremely attractive, scantily-clad blonde in front of her. Ava huffed.

“God, I miss the gym,” she uttered because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get any work done in her current state, anyway.

Sara’s head snapped up.

“You work out?”

“Yes, I do CrossFit every morning.”

“Before work? Why am I not surprised?”

The older woman tilted her head in curiosity.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Sara laughed, leaning back in her chair. “Come on then, let’s see those guns.”

“You wish, Lance,” Ava scoffed—and almost choked on that very same breath when Sara lifted her arms, tightening her muscles.

“You’re just afraid you can’t keep up,” the blonde accused, still flexing her—frankly impressive—biceps. While the lesbian part of her brain was temporarily rendered entirely useless by the sight, the competitive part sprang into action at Sara’s words. Game on.

“Oh, please!” The older woman rolled her eyes, before basically ripping her cardigan off her body—glad that she’d opted for a sleeveless top today—and showing off her own muscles.

Sara whistled through her teeth. “Not bad.”

Blushing, Ava lowered her arms again before busying herself with putting her cardigan back on.Did Sara’s reaction mean that she found her attractive? Or was she simply appreciating Ava’s biceps in a platonic, objective way as a fellow gym goer? Did it matter? (It did, the traitorous little part of her brain that had increasingly NSFW thoughts and feelings about Sara whispered.)

“We should work out together some time once all this is over.”

Well, that answered that, then.

“Not before work, though,” Sara added quickly, letting out another laugh.

Ava considered the other woman’s suggestion for a moment. Usually, she worked out by herself—although there was definitely something to be said for the motivational powers of a group class—enjoying the time of being completely alone with her thoughts. It helped her focus—and there had been several instances where the solution to a problem at work had hit her like a ton of bricks right in the middle of a set of fifty burpees.

However, Ava surprised herself with the realization that she didn’t hate the idea of working out with Sara. There was an inherently competitive aspect to their dynamic that she was sure would only intensify in a gym environment and probably do wonders for her motivation—maybe Sara’s incessant need to one up her would finally push Ava enough to master the salmon ladder. After all, she had always been more driven by spite than support.

“I—yes, I think I’d like that.”

Sara only beamed at her in response.

Over the next couple of days, Ava and Sara found themselves talking more and more throughout their meetings—conversation increasingly straying from work-related topics and, instead, becoming personal—and the older woman had to admit that she was eager to find out more things about the blonde.

Currently, it was 6PM—half an hour after their video call was supposed to end—and they were still engrossed in conversation, neither in a hurry to hang up. Ava had relocated to the couch a few minutes ago while Sara was currently in her kitchen, making dinner. The blonde gave the microwave mac and cheese in front of her a dirty look, whining, “Ugh, I miss my favorite restaurant.”

“Which is?” Ava asked, gazing up from the crossword puzzle she had been more or less focused on while listening to Sara regaling her with a story of the time she’d accidentally punched her sister’s boyfriend in the face.

“Lum Ka Naad. Obviously.”

Ava’s eyebrows rose.

“Thai food? I wouldn’t have thought.”

“Why, cause I’m a white girl?” Sara laughed, signature teasing tone strong in her voice.

“No, because you don’t have taste,” Ava teased right back.

“Rude.”

Sara popped a noodle in her mouth. “And, for the record, I have excellent taste in loads of things. Food. Movies.” She paused before adding, “ _Women_.”

Ava’s heart skipped a beat. _Oh God_. She shook her head, hoping it would help her regain the ability to form a coherent thought.

“I’ve seen you eat dry cereal straight from the box and call it ‘breakfast’ more than once in the past week and your favorite movie is _Chicken Little_. Your taste is atrocious,” Ava pointed out, choosing to completely ignore the third category because she wasn’t about to get her hopes up just to have them crushed again when she’d eventually ( _inevitably_ ) find out that the other woman was straight. As per usual, Sara must simply be screwing with her, trying to throw Ava for a loop.

Before she could descend into full blown bout of gay panic, the other woman’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Right, so what is your favorite restaurant then, Gordon Ramsay?”

“Ayada. _Obviously_.”

“Thai food? I wouldn’t have thought,” Sara singsonged, repeating Ava’s earlier statement.

“Jerk,” Ava laughed, absolutely no bite behind the word.

“Anyway, mine is definitely the best Thai place in town. I mean, have you tried their green papaya salad?” The blonde brought her thumb and index finger to her lips like an Italian chef to indicate just how delicious she thought it was. ****

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re wrong.” Ava raised an eyebrow in challenge, daring the other woman to object.

Slowly, an impish smirk crept onto Sara’s face.

“Well, I guess once this quarantine business is over you’ll just have to take me there to convince me.”

“I guess I do,” Ava agreed before she could second-guess herself, not breaking eye contact with the blonde.

There was a flash of elation in Sara’s eyes but it was gone so fast that Ava wasn’t sure if, maybe, she’d just imagined it.

Usually, this would be the perfect moment to panic about what she’d just blurted out but Ava was surprised to realize just how much she liked the idea of taking Sara to her favorite restaurant even though—or maybe because—it sounded an awful lot like a date. Also, not only had the blonde essentially baited her into it, but her reaction had also looked not at all averse to the scenario. Did Sara _want_ Ava to take her on a date? Was there a possibility that she wasn’t the only one with a crush here? Had she completely misread the other woman?

Before her excitement could get away from her, however, rationality kicked back in and she chastised herself for doing exactly what she had promised herself not to do—get her hopes up. Once again it had to simply be a case of her seeing what she wanted to see. Her gaydar’d never been great and, more than once, she had fallen hard and fast for a straight girl. It was a mistake she didn’t particularly look to repeat so, these days, she was overly cautious when it came to any kind of feelings—not that she could stop herself from falling for the other woman at this point; that ship had definitely sailed.

God, what was she _doing_?

They didn’t mention their possible non-date date again after that and, for the next couple of days, Ava was slightly more reserved around the other woman than before in an effort to bring their relationship back to a purely professional one. However, she quickly abandoned that particular strategy not only because Sara made it extremely hard not to be friends with her, but also because she realized that it was making her absolutely miserable.

Today’s meeting had been both productive and full of their usual bickering, which had led to Sara bullying Ava into admitting that she’d had a huge crush on Gillian Anderson when she was younger. (Sara’s only comment had been that it was very “reasonable”—whatever that meant.)

All in all, it had been a good day even though, toward the end of their video call, Sara had become more and more quiet, more and more pensive, which was a side of the other woman that Ava wasn’t really sure how to deal with yet—especially when the blonde had declined her offer to talk about whatever was bothering her. Instead, she had given some cockamamie excuse for having to go and hung up on Ava.

So, of course, the older woman had spent the majority of the evening agonizing over every little detail of their interactions over the past few days but couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it was just a case of the other shoe finally dropping. Maybe Sara had realized that, actually, Ava was just a dull, sad nerd not worth her while. Well, it wasn’t like Ava hadn’t been expecting this day to come sooner or later.

She was just about to get some Ben & Jerry’s out of the freezer and eat her feelings when her phone lit up with a FaceTime call from the last person she’d expected to hear from tonight. ****

“Sara, hey. What’s wrong? Is there an issue with the code?” she asked, unable to think of another explanation as to why the blonde would be calling her. They had exchanged numbers—for purely professional reasons, of course—a few days ago and although Sara had sent her a few text messages and obnoxious pictures of her daily quarantine adventures, Ava didn’t think the blonde would actually use it to call her.

She was still unsure where they stood, exactly, after their conversation the other day and Sara’s odd behavior earlier. At this point, at least, Ava was pretty sure that the blonde had indeed been flirting with her—and that she herself was only too happy to flirt right back—but the question remained if Sara was actually serious or if all of this was just an elaborate game to her. Maybe it was just her personality and she talked to everyone like this. It didn’t exactly help her tendency to overthink that Ava had literally never seen the blonde interact with a single other person and thus had absolutely nothing to compare Sara’s behavior toward her to.

“Uhh, no. I just wanted to… I was wondering…” Sara started and Ava was immediately on high alert. She might not have known the blonde for long—or experienced her around other people—but what she did know was that she never stuttered, was never lost for words. So something had to be seriously wrong if the blonde was behaving like this. Sara ran her teeth across her bottom lip. “Are you doing anything right now?”

Ava lifted the glass of red wine on the coffee table in front of her up so the other woman could see it. “I was going to watch some Netflix.”

Sara faltered.

“Oh, ok, sure. I’m just gonna leave you to it then. Sorry.”

The absolute lack of her usual cocky nature in both her voice and overall demeanor caused Ava’s eyebrows to knit together in worry. This was a Sara she was entirely unfamiliar with, a Sara she couldn’t read—but one she wanted to keep around all the same.

“No, Sara, wait,” Ava blurted out before the other woman could hang up. “Why did you call me?”

“Because I—” Sara huffed, looking down onto her lap. “I like talking to you, ok? You’re smart and funny and gorgeous and I… I like talking to you.”

Well, whatever Ava had been expecting, it definitely hadn’t been _that_ and she cursed her traitorous heart for skipping a beat at Sara calling her gorgeous. Once again it seemed like the other woman was definitely flirting with her—and once again Ava cautioned herself to tread carefully and not get her hopes up. Maybe Sara thought she was gorgeous in a friendly, platonic way. A gorgeous gal pal. No romantic interest whatsoever.

Overwhelmed by Sara’s admission, the older woman was quiet for a moment, deciding her best plan of action was to bring this back into territory they were both familiar with. She cracked a smile.

“Are you sure that’s not just some kind of Stockholm Syndrome situation? Quarantine slowly driving you insane?”

Sara looked up.

“No it’s not, you jerk. I like you.”

For a moment, they were both quiet, letting the magnitude of Sara’s admission sink in.

“Tell me something,” she said eventually as she gave Ava an expectant look.

“Like what?”

Sara shrugged.

“Anything.”

“Well, I was supposed to be at the Brandi Carlile concert in town tonight. I just saw the ticket on my fridge.” It was the only thing she could think of, her mind still preoccupied with processing the fact that this conversation was happening in the first place.

Sara probably didn’t even know who that was, she thought, and was just about to give the other woman a rundown of the Top 3 Brandi Carlile Songs You’ve Definitely Heard On The Radio Before when Sara interrupted her with an excited, “Fuck off! Me too!”

Ava’s eyes snapped up to Sara’s face.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, she’s one of my faves,” the blonde confirmed. “Plus you always meet cute girls at a Brandi Carlile gig.”

She winked suggestively.

Right, this was it. No one wore that many tank-top-and-leather-jacket combos and invited themselves to non-date dates in order to prove their favorite restaurant was the best and went to Brandi Carlile concerts if they weren’t at least a little gay. Yes, Ava’s gaydar was shit on the best of days but _come on_.

Still though, she had been burned one too many times by falling for a straight girl she assumed wasn’t based on the usual markers, so she wasn’t going to make a move unless she was one hundred percent sure that Sara was interested in women.

“So you’re…” Ava trailed off, not daring to label the blonde herself in case she had severely misinterpreted, well, all of this.

“Bi,” Sara confirmed, and, immediately, Ava could feel her traitorous heart pick up speed.

“Cool,” she said, nodding her head in a way that she knew looked the exact opposite. “Cool.”

“Stop being so awkward, people might think you’re a homophobe.”

Ava bristled. She’d been called a few things in her lifetime but that was a new one. Before she could stop herself, she snapped, “I’m a _lesbian_ , Sara, how could I possibly be homophobic?”

The other woman laughed, holding her palms up in mock surrender.

“Relax, I know. I’m joking.”

“You know? How?”

“ _I don’t do boyfriends_?” Sara retorted, doing her best impression of the other woman. Her eyes were narrowed, one perfect eyebrow raised in challenge, daring Ava to object.

Well, she didn’t need a second invitation.

“But that could’ve just meant that—”

“What? You’re a nun? Come on, I’m not an idiot,” Sara interrupted her.

“Ok, maybe not in this particular instance,” Ava allowed, giving the blonde a lopsided smile.

“I just love how highly you think of me.”

“What do you want me to say? You’re so smart, Sara. You’re so strong, Sara. You’re so handsome, Sara.”

“That’s a start,” the blonde laughed, sparkle back in her bright blue eyes.

“Honestly, though. I hope you know that I think you’re not only an great person but also an excellent web developer. I couldn’t be doing any of this without you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I still feel like a fraud, sometimes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I think it’s because I didn’t go to college for any of this. I taught myself and then just made coffee for arrogant Silicon Valley assholes for ages before someone finally gave me a real shot,” the blonde explained, shrugging. She hesitated briefly before continuing to speak.

“You’re great as well, you know? If someone had told me after that first day that, four weeks down the line, we would be here I’m pretty sure I would have called them delusional; but now that you’ve finally taken that stick out of your ass you’re actually pretty fun.”

A smile played at the corners of Sara’s lips and Ava couldn’t help but returning it. Even though the older woman knew that having serious conversations like this was important in any relationship, platonic or romantic, it was almost a relief that their usual rapport was still there as well.

“Such high praise from the woman who thinks that terrible puns are the height of comedy.” ****

Sara let out a chuckle before falling quiet once more, just watching Ava on the screen in front of her. Her eyes were a wild mix of emotions, none of which Ava dared to identify, and the older woman got the impression that there was still something preoccupying her, that there was something on her mind she just wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ say. Silence—the good, safe, comfortable kind—settled over them like a fuzzy blanket and she found herself looking at the other woman with unconcealed fondness, hoping the blonde knew that Ava was here to listen whenever she was ready to talk. Sara swallowed. ****

“Will you go on a date with me?”

The words were spoken softly but without warning as Sara leveled her with a gaze that was so intense that the older woman could feel goosebumps appearing on her skin. ****

Really, she shouldn’t be quite as stunned as she was by this turn of events. They had been dancing around that particular elephant in the room for quite a while now, both doing their best to avoid making an actual move and, instead, resorting to banter that had, Ava could recognize in hindsight, definitely turned into full-on flirting on both ends quite a while ago.

“Yes,” she agreed immediately. “Once this is over we could—”

“No, I meant, like, tomorrow,” Sara interrupted her with a grin.

Ava’s brow furrowed.

“What are you talking about, we literally can’t leave our apartments. That’s the whole point of doing all this over video calls.” She looked at Sara like she was the biggest idiot in the world.

“I was thinking that we could, I don’t know, cook together while on here. Watch the same movie. Something like that.” Sara shrugged, looking more insecure than the older woman had ever seen her before.

“That’s…”

… really sweet, Ava thought. Who would’ve guessed that Sara Lance, of all people, was a closet romantic? “I’d actually really like that.”

What appeared on the woman’s face in response was the biggest smile Ava had ever seen.

When, after their usual daily meeting, the time for their date finally arrived, Ava was both extremely nervous and not nervous at all at the same time. She had gone through five outfits already trying to find something nice while simultaneously being aware that a) Sara had literally seen her in pajamas before and, apparently, still found her attractive enough to go on a date with and b) actually dressing up in anything she’d usually wear on a date (not that she went on many) would make her feel ridiculous because she was going to be at home in her own kitchen and living room for the entirety of the evening so, eventually, she’d settled on dark blue skinny jeans and a low cut long-sleeve top that she hoped Sara would appreciate.

However, the fact that she had finally found an outfit did little in the way of assuaging her fears that the date would go horrible wrong. What if they had nothing to talk about? If Sara realized that Ava wasn’t worth her time? Maybe the blonde had just asked her out as a joke. Or because someone had dared her to. Or out of quarantine-induced boredom. The possibilities were endless.

No, she thought. She knew Sara. She _trusted_ her. They’d spent the past four and a half weeks seeing each other virtually every day; talked about things they’d never told another person. There was no way the blonde would do something like that to her. Still, though, Ava couldn’t quite shake her fears, couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she wasn’t enough.

It was then that both her phone and laptop started ringing at the same time. For a brief second, Ava considered just ignoring it but quickly realized what a stupid idea that was, accepting the call on her MacBook before she could talk herself out of it again.

As soon as the blonde appeared in front of her she was greeted with a cheery, “Look, I put on pants for you!” The blinding smile on her face erased any and all doubts Ava had ever had about this and she laughed, put at ease by Sara’s usual banter.

“I actually wouldn’t have minded the no pants look today.” Ava’s voice was innocent but the grin on her face was downright dirty.

“Pervert,” Sara teased, winking.

“Excuse me, you’re the one who came to work in her underwear.”

“Maybe I was just trying to get a rise out of you.”

The blonde tilted her head to the side and gave Ava a mischievous smirk. God, this woman would be the death of her.

“Anyway, enough chit-chat. Let’s get down to business!” Sara exclaimed before walking over to her kitchen, which looked much tidier than the previous handful of times Ava had seen it.

After much discussion they’d decided to make fried rice because not only was it one of Sara’s favorites, it was also the only dish they both (more or less) had the ingredients for at home. Evidently eager to get started, Sara grabbed a knife from somewhere off-screen and started chopping a carrot like one of those professional chefs on television. Ava couldn’t help but stare. It was pretty hot.

“I’m surprised you actually know how to cook.”

Sara chuckled.

“Oh, I’m full of surprises, believe me.”

“I actually _do_ believe that. When we first met I thought we were going to kill each other within the week. I would never have predicted, well, any of this,” she confessed vaguely motioning between herself and her laptop.

“Like I said, me neither,” Sara agreed as she grabbed another carrot but, instead of starting to slice it, she looked up at Ava with that patented Sara Lance look in her eyes—the one that meant she was about to say something brash.

“I did think you looked really hot in your suit, though.”

Ava’s lips arched into a smile.

“You didn’t look too bad yourself.”

“I actually went through, like, ten different outfits that morning. That’s why I was late. Nate told me you were really hot but also kind of a hard-ass with super high expectations so I wanted to make a good first impression.”

Ava let that information sink in for a second. Her smile widened.

“Sorry to break it to you, but you didn’t.”

“Oh, I’m fully aware,” the blonde snorted, cutting the carrot in her hand in half with practiced movements. “I think I managed to turn it around, though.”

“Seems like it.”

They shared a gentle smile, regarding each other in silence for a moment. ****

“I’d really like to kiss you right now.”

Sara’s voice was soft, quiet, her eyes darker than usual, and, suddenly, all air left Ava’s lungs. She felt dizzy. Lightheaded. In an effort to steady herself she wrapped her hands around the edge of her kitchen island. Sara wanted to kiss her. The mere thought of feeling the blonde’s lips against her own made her stomach drop in the most delicious way.

“I—I’d like that, too,” she revealed just as softly, absentmindedly running her thumb over the counter she was still holding onto.

Sara groaned.

“Ugh, self-isolation is the worst.”

“It’ll be over soon.”

“It better be. Otherwise I’ll risk it all and come over.”

Ava rolled her eyes, unable to suppress the smile playing at the corners of her lips.

“You’re impossible.”

“You love it.”

“I guess I do,” she confirmed, smiling.

In the next few days there was barely a moment where they weren’t either on Zoom, FaceTime, or the phone to each other, talking about nothing and everything for hours on end, the older woman sure that she would never tire of hearing Sara’s voice.

Ava hadn’t felt like this about anyone before. She’d always been a loner, priding herself on the fact that she didn’t need anyone—even when in a relationship. Until Sara. The urge to be with the other woman, to spend time with her, was so strong that sometimes she wondered if it was possible to be addicted to another person—or healthy to be so thoroughly enarmored with someone, for that matter.

Before she could contemplate the issue any further, her phone vibrated with a new notification. Fully expecting it to be a text message from Sara, she couldn’t help the pang of disappointment when she saw that, instead, it was an email from their CEO. She was just about to toss her phone to the side when she caught a glance of the subject line: “Internal update: De-isolation and return to the office.”

Opening the message as fast as humanly possible, she skimmed most of it until she got to the part that she actually cared about: the announcement that, since the city-wide lockdown had officially been lifted, the board had decided to re-open head office and bring everyone back. She gasped. _This was really happening_.

Eager to pass on the good news she was just about to call Sara when the phone in her hand began to ring and she wasn’t at all surprised to see who it was.

Ava accepted the call immediately, greeting Sara with a breathless, “Have you seen the email?” in lieu of an actual hello, too excited to waste any time.

“Yep,” the blonde confirmed, seeming equally thrilled by the news.

“We’re back in the office on Monday.”

“I know.”

Ava still couldn’t quite believe it. But with the number of cases steadily declining and a vaccine that had cleared all necessary clinical trials, the board had decided that it was finally time for things to start going back to normal.

“I’ll get to actually see you.”

“I know.”

“I’ll get to…” Ava started, realization slowly dawning on her. “I’ll get to _kiss_ you.”

“I _know_ ,” Sara repeated, and the older woman could practically hear her grin.

Today was the day. The day she would finally meet Sara Lance in person. She still couldn’t quite believe it. In her excitement she’d arrived at the office a full hour before she was due to start after tossing and turning for the better part of the night, unable to sleep.

However, it hadn’t simply been excitement keeping her awake. Of course it hadn’t. Ava was the queen of overthinking, of imagining the worst possible scenario in any given situation. And no matter how much she wanted it to be, this wasn’t any different. Her mind had, helpful as it was, come up with a list of all the things that could go wrong today. What if they didn’t click in real life like they had on screen? What if Sara decided that she didn’t like her after all? What if she didn’t want a relationship? There were so many things they hadn’t talked about yet, so many things Ava didn’t know about the other woman.

Plus, there was a reason that she was still single at 37. She wasn’t good at dating, and relationships, and feelings. She was too awkward, too weird, afraid of people getting too close. Definitely not easy to be with. And Sara would realize that sooner or later.

She was about three seconds away from a full-blown panic attack when a firm knock startled her out of her thoughts. It took her a second—and a deep breath—to realize where she was and why she was in such a state to begin with. Sara.

Remembering the knock, she looked up—only to see the very woman she was both overeager and terrified to meet in front of her, a lopsided smile on her lips as she casually leaned against the doorframe.

“Hi,” she said quietly, lifting her right hand in greeting.

“Hi,” Ava echoed before getting up from her chair to finally do what she’d wanted to do for the better part of the last five weeks—worries be damned.

_6 months later..._

Ava exhaled slowly, placing a bookmark in the book she had been staring at but not actually reading for the past fifteen minutes before putting it on the nightstand next to her and turning over so she was facing her girlfriend who was furiously tapping away on her phone.

The taller woman had been slightly on edge all night, unable to fully unwind throughout first dinner and then the two episodes of _Mindhunter_ they’d watched cuddled together on the couch, thoughts circling around the same topic they had been preoccupied with for the pastfew days.

All it had taken was one throwaway comment from Sara about how she should stop wasting money and just terminate the lease for her apartment because she spent more nights at her girlfriend’s than she did in her own bed anyway and it had become the only thing Ava’d been able to think about ever since. She was sure that Sara had been ninety percent joking but still the idea wouldn’t leave her head. Well, only one way to find out.

“I have been thinking…” Ava started and Sara immediately put her phone down, turning to look at her girlfriend.

“What is it, babe?” The concern in her voice was evident on her face as well, and Ava’s stomach dropped. Right, so maybe hadn’t been as good at hiding her anxiety as she’d thought.

Her heart clenched in her chest as she looked at the beautiful, intelligent, caring woman next to her, who had very quickly turned into the most important person in her life. At this point, they spent more time together than they did apart; although both had their own offices, they preferred to work together at one of the conference tables in the open plan section of the building and Sara spent so many nights at Ava’s apartment that, at this point, she not only had a toothbrush in the en-suite but half her wardrobe in the older woman’s closet. The only thing they didn’t do together on a regular basis was work out because Ava still preferred to go to the gym in the morning before work while her girlfriend wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere that wasn’t her bed before 8AM. However, once the older woman returned, Sara was only too happy to jump in the shower with her. It was a compromise they could both more than live with.

“I know we’ve only been dating for half a year and I’d hate to live up to the stereotype but,” Ava explained, taking one of Sara’s hands in hers, “just in case the next pandemic hits, I don’t want to be quarantined away from you again.”

For a moment, Sara just looked at her, mouth slightly open, before abruptly sitting up.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Maybe,” Ava hesitated, biting her lip, before she sat up as well to be on eye level with her girlfriend. A breath, then, “Sara Lance, would you consider moving in with me? Please?”

Silence.

The longer the blonde stayed quiet, the more Ava could feel the panic rise inside of her. Oh God, she had fucked it all up. Scared Sara off with the stupid domestic tendencies that had started to bubble up inside her ever since they’d started dating. She was just about to seriously entertain the possibility that she had misjudged their entire relationship and probably needed to find a new job because she wouldn’t be able to be around Sara of they were broken up when her girlfriend burst into laughter.

“Wow, you’re _such_ a lesbian.”

Well, that definitely wasn’t the reaction she had been anticipating but it also wasn’t a straight up no, so, all things considered, it could’ve definitely gone worse. Before Ava was able to further second guess both herself and the future of their entire relationship, Sara laced their fingers together, squeezing Ava’s hand with her own.

“Well, considering I don’t even remember what my own apartment looks like, I guess it makes sense to break out the old U-Haul.”

Ava’s lips arched into a hesitant smile.

“Yes?”

“Yes,” Sara confirmed, grin mirroring her girlfriend’s.

The older woman couldn’t help the giddy squeal that escaped her mouth as she pulled their intertwined hands to her chest.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, you nerd,” Sara laughed as she leaned in to press a kiss to her girlfriend’s lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments always appreciated.


End file.
